The state of the market was not far from the minds of those presenting and those taking in the proceedings

The status of the industry and hard hits being taken in Appalachia were the talk of the 40th annual event, held once more at the Charleston Civic Center.

Another vein of conversation was the six coal deaths the US industry has recorded over a matter of weeks. Four of them were in West Virginia.

That alarming rash was woven through many of the sessions held Wednesday, including a presentation by US Mine Safety and Health Administration coal administrator Kevin Stricklin.

While he did not identify the name of the mine, the MSHA official highlighted an ongoing issue of non-compliant mines with the recent impact inspection of a West Virginia operation on February 19.

Inspectors found a myriad of violations at the operation, including two machine units running on the same splitter, a line curtain that was rolled up an estimated 60 feet and no air ventilation at the working face.

As a result of the inspection, the mine was issued 13 D orders, one of the most serious classifications of unwarrantable failure.

“[MSHA] could do away with impact inspections is I weren’t finding these problems,” Stricklin said, adding that such mines gave the industry a “black eye” and kept it from moving forward.

He also recalled a time when the industry went a period of eight months without a single coal mining fatality; while 2013 started off promising for the first few weeks, the following weeks sent the progress into a tailspin.

As Stricklin noted, the industry was capable of meeting safety goals.

Following the Crandall Canyon Collapse in 2007, fatals as a result of retreat mining became an area of focus for federal officials. Since that time, no deaths have been recorded underground as a result of retreat practices.

Stricklin said the ultimate goal of zero fatalities was achievable.

“There are very few fatals that they say ‘that miner was destined to die’,” he said, noting that, after a near-record low of 19 deaths in 2012, there were lessons to be learnt from such incidents.

“There are always reasons while they [fatal accidents] shouldn’t be occurring.”